Don't Get Strung Out
by LixiPixi
Summary: Wandering round the castle at night, Janet gets herself stranded in a basement and isn't alone for very long. All Characters eventually R


_Little fic I thought up when bored. Figured it would be fun to write )_

_I don't own any of these characters, unfortunately._

_Please review if you would like me to write another chapter...I probably will even if you don't, but the review would be extra encouragement, heheh. _

Rain lashed violently against the window pane making a crackling, spitting noise.

It was doing nothing to help with Janet's already splitting headache. A combination of fear, confusion and that itching feeling of foreboding had created a nagging pain just behind her temples. She rolled over in the empty bed, wishing she could be with Brad – he always knew how to get rid of her damned tension headaches.

_Maybe I should go and find him..._she wondered to herself, also deciding that the walk would help clear her clouded brain. There was also the added bonus that she could possibly stumble on a bathroom with a fully equipped medicine cabinet.

Her mind made up, Janet pulled on the silk dressing gown she had been given and quietly slipped out of her room.

The corridors of Frank's castle seemed to have an extra-eerie feeling about them. The dark walls seemed to absorb all sounds. There weren't the noises of a normal home – creaking floorboards, gurgling pipes, muffled footsteps from the floors above. The only sound Janet could hear was her own breath and the rapid skipping of her heartbeat.

She had been trying doors the whole time she wandered down the corridor, and finally one of them opened. It was pitch black inside, and no matter how much fumbling she did, she couldn't get her hands on a light switch. She could feel stairs under her feet, descending from the door, into the gloom. _Well maybe I have to go down into the dark to find the light switch_? She suggested to herself, proud at spotting the subtle irony. Janet shuffled cautiously down the narrow steps, finally letting go of the rail when she was out of reach of the door.

The door slammed shut with a bang.

Janet slipped.

Then wooden step splintered beneath her misplaced foot.

She ended up flat on her back on a cold stone floor, with the door out metres above her in the blackness, and no steps to reach it.

Her headache felt like a light tickling sensation in comparison with that problem.

After about half on hour of weeping at her predicament, the very small sensible (but Brad obsessed) part of Janet's brain stated to kick in. _Stop being so positively stupid! _It screeched at her, _If Brad were here, he would tell you to pull yourself together and start thinking rationally. Brad always thinks rationally, and has he ever got you into trouble?_

"No he certainly has not!" She said out loud, and brushing the dust off her underskirt, she stood up straight and purposefully. Janet knew she couldn't reach the door, and she certainly had no hope of finding a light switch in the dark, she wasn't going to ruin her nails by attempting to scrabble up the wall and reach the couple of remaining steps.

"What do I do?" She asked herself, her voice reverberating and amplifying off the boxed-in walls. That gave her her answer. She could call for help!

She took a deep breath.

"IS THERE ANYONE THERE??? HELPMEIMSTUCKINABASEMENTANDITSCOLDANDDIRTTYYYY!!"

Another breath.

"HELPIMLOCKEDINANDICAN'TREACHTHEDOORANDITSNASTYYYY!!'

Still silence. She took another breath.

"CANYOUHEARMEEEEE?? I SAID IT'S COLD AND DIRTY AND NASTY DOWN HERE!"

Still no one. People were so rude. She gave it one last try, with a good old scream.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

That did the trick. The door clicked open and a figure was stood there, peering curiously in her direction. They took a step forward on to the non-existent stairs.

"Don't do that! The stairs are-"

CRASH.

"-broken...I'm so sorry whoever you are!"

Janet quickly rushed over the crumpled figure, and a glace up at the door told her that it had slammed shut again. She helped them straighten up...well as straight as they would stand.

"Oh I am so sorry!" She gushed again. "I tried to warn you, I really did! I'm sorry, who are you?"

Janet could tell from the air about them that this person was scowling.

"I'm Riffraff...I came when I heard your positively idiotic screaming, and now we're both down here! Aren't we the clever one?"

_Gosh he's bad-tempered_, Janet thought to herself, but chose not to say that particular thought out loud, she couldn't really see it improving his mood. She guessed she back to waiting until someone else came along. She wandered over to a corner, smoothed her skirt out and sat cross-legged on the grubby floor.

"Well let's not just sit here in silence," Janet began, after a few minutes of sitting.

Riffraff hoped that for just a moment she had a plan.

"Lets play a game!"

False hope. He gave the heaviest sigh he could muster, and sat stiffly down in his own chosen corner.

"We're trapped...in the cold, dark basement...no light...no one knows we are here...no one WILL know we are here for at least another four hours..." He twitched, "And you're suggesting we play a GAME?"

Janet didn't pick up his irritable tone.

"Yes! Do you know how to play the word association game? I say a word, and you say the first word that comes into your head..."

Riffraff grunted in non-committal understanding.

"Brilliant...ok...dog"

"You."

"Um...ok...human."

"I stand by what I said before..."

What had been a grin of determination, now disappeared from Janet's face. Riffraff clearly did not understand the principle of the word association game. She tried again.

"How about...Kitchen?

"Knife."

"Oh dear..."


End file.
